Fifth-year left guard sees same hunger in his new team

Wes Hodkiewicz

GREEN BAYAaron Banksis a football player, not a contract negotiator.

Coming off an impressive fourth season in San Francisco, the 6-foot-5, 325-pound guard kept focus on family in the offseason while leaving his professional future in the hands of his agency.

Then, shortly after the NFL's negotiating window opened in March, Banks received the call from his agent, Kyle McCarthy, that came with a little-hearted clue on his next destination.

"He hit me and was like, 'Hey, we got good news. Think cheese,'" Banks recalled. "I was like, 'All right, deal's done. Sounds good."'

Cheese could only mean one thing the Green Bay Packers, a team Banks admired from afar since entering the league as a second-round pick out of Notre Dame in 2021.

A three-year starter, Banks gained reputation during his 2,588 offensive snaps with the 49ers as a road-grading guard with the power to move defensive linemen off the ball and the quickness to get to the second level.

The Packers, wanting to beef up their offensive line, felt the 27-year-old Banks would be the right fit for the direction their power-run offense is heading behind veteran backJosh Jacobs.

Needing to replace Josh Myers and looking to build its best possible starting five, Green Bay chose to slide two-time Pro BowlerElgton Jenkinsto center while plugging in Banks next to him at left guard.

"He's a pretty big guy out there," said Head Coach Matt LaFleur of Banks. "He's played a lot of football, and there's a lot of similarities in regards to the scheme where he came from to what we do. Obviously, we know what he's capable of doing, but it also provides us with a lot of flexibility with everyone else around him."

Banks' run with San Francisco saw him block for Christian McCaffrey during his NFL Offensive Player of the Year campaign in 2023 and come within an eyelash of winning the Super Bowl on multiple occasions.

The 49ers made back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances in Banks' first two seasons before losing Super LVIII in gut-wrenching fashion, a 25-22 overtime defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The chase for an elusive Super Bowl ring continues to drive the veteran guard, and in many ways, Banks feels the same sense of urgency from his new team.

"They've been in the playoffs every year and it's a young team and guys are only getting better," Banks said. "As the younger guys on this team start to become older guys and then we start to bring everybody along, I just think we're really close. I think we have all the tools and all the pieces to get there, and not only get there but win it."

Banks didn't have many connections to Green Bay outside of Packers strength and conditioning coordinator Aaron Hill, an assistant coach with the 49ers during Banks' first two seasons, and offensive line coach Luke Butkus, who previously worked for Banks' college coach Harry Hiestand.

Still, the reputation of the Packers' offensive line preceded itself after the unit allowed the second-fewest sacks (22) in the NFL last season while plowing the way for Jacobs and the league's fifth-ranked rushing offense.

"You've got a number of guys who are like Swiss Army knives," Banks said. "Not only large but guys who can move, so we can get around the edge, we can go run down linebackers. We can also set up double teams and move people vertically off the ball."

Signing a lucrative free agent deal comes with high expectations, but that's nothing new to Banks. He replaced perennial All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson at Notre Dame and another Pro Bowler, Laken Tomlinson, in San Francisco.

A mild-mannered guy who likes to play football and head home, Banks has enjoyed bonding with his new Packers teammates this offseason and looks forward to helping get Green Bay over the hump in 2025.

"It's a very competitive and hard-working team," Banks said. "Just playing against them, playing against this defense, it's different when you see it on tape versus actually playing against a team and kind of seeing the brotherhood and the culture that they have here. So, I was excited to join it."